Victim of Wendy's french fry assault is relative of a late Bibb County sheriff

A woman who was reportedly assaulted by another patron over french fries at a Macon restaurant last month is the daughter-in-law of the late Bibb County Sheriff Jerry Modena.

Elaine Modena, 49, told The Telegraph she had gone through the Wendy's drive-thru on Zebulon Road with her husband, her 71-year-old mother-in-law and 13-year-old grandson after the four of them saw a movie on the evening of Feb. 13.

Everything Modena ordered was given to her except the Baconator fries. An attendant at the window told her to pull forward and wait on the fries. After more than 10 minutes passed, Modena told sheriff's deputies, she walked to the restaurant's inside counter to check on the status of the fries, according to an incident report from the Bibb County Sheriff's Office.

"One of the employees made the fries for me, then handed them to the drive through girl and she handed them out the window," Modena said in an email to The Telegraph. "I said that they were supposed to be mine."

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The employees made another batch of the cheese and bacon-covered fries, she said.

Modena said she "was not happy so I did not say thank you," and took the bag of fries before walking toward the door.

Modena said that before she could leave, a woman in the dining area yelled, "Are you just going to snatch that out of my niece's hand?"

"I said I did not know and so what if I did," Modena said in the email. The woman, along with several others, followed Modena to her car. As she closed her car door, she told deputies the woman punched her window.

"I was again in shock. I am almost 50 years old and have never had anyone do this," Modena said. "I opened my door, which now I know was a mistake, however I thought she was going to key my car. She grabbed me by the hair and starting hitting me in the face. Some of the children also started hitting me, one on my back. I don't remember anything else."

Modena said her husband, Jerry Michael Modena Jr., tried to stop the children and woman from hurting her. The woman and her children left in a white Honda Civic, screaming obscenities and threatening to "make them pay," according to the incident report.

There was no video footage of the fight because there were no surveillance cameras on the outside of the building, according to the incident report.

The alleged niece of the woman who assaulted Modena told deputies she didn't know the assailant. A deputy took Modena's statement at her mother-in-law's house after the incident.

Lt. Randy Gonzalez, public information officer for the sheriff's office, said Tuesday he was unable to provide details beyond the initial incident report.

To contact writer Laura Corley, call 744-4334 and follow her on Twitter @Lauraecor.